Ever been up a river without a paddle? That's no place to be. It's always best to climb into a canoe with a life jacket and an experienced person - someone who knows the river. Commentator Rex Buchanan is no stranger to paddling down a river, but he recently took a trip with a real pro, through the heart of downtown Kansas City.
Rex Buchanan's canoeing partner, Hannes Zacharias, is giving a presentation Wednesday night about another river he's come to know. "Rediscovering the Arkansas River" is the title of his talk at the Hall Center for the Humanities. It begins at 7 pm.
(Transcript)
I like to canoe, but I’ll admit that I’ve always been a little intimidated by the idea of paddling the Missouri River. At least from the bank, it looks so big, powerful, and fast. I’ve canoed the Kaw, the Ozarks, the boundary waters of Minnesota. But the Missouri. That’s different.
Then I tried it recently with a friend of mine, Hannes Zacharias. Hannes knows a thing or two about paddling, having kayaked from Kansas to New Orleans twice, along with other trips. He said I’d be fine in his canoe as long as I was A) sober and B) wore a life jacket.
Still, I was apprehensive when we put in on a recent Sunday morning at Parkville, Missouri, a little north of Kansas City. But he was right. It’s a manageable river. We drifted and talked. About the only impediment is the occasional wing dam that juts out into the river to control the current and erosion. Except when the wind came up, the river was pretty placid.
And a revelation. Even though we were within a few miles of more than 2 million people, sometimes they seemed far away. Trees lined both banks, the occasional blue heron flew overheard.
And when we did encounter human structures, seeing them from the river provided a new perspective. We drifted past the old downtown airport, for example, and watched plane after plane take off directly overhead. We saw the Kansas City skyline, clearly imprinted on the hills above the river. We saw Kaw Point, where the Kansas River joins the Missouri, reminding us of the canoes, the steamboats, even Lewis and Clark, who had paddled this path before.
Maybe the biggest surprise was the bridges. We floated under I-435, under I-635, under Highway 69, Highway 169, the Heart of America Bridge, I-29, all within a few miles. Some of those bridges look utilitarian, non-descript. But some have character. Especially the Kit Bond bridge that carries I-29 and I-35. Even from the usual roadway viewpoint, it’s a spectacular, cable-supported bridge. A lit-up version seems show up in video clips every time the Chiefs play on Monday night football. It’s even more spectacular from river-level, where the diamond-shaped supports for the bridge look like works of art that few people see.
It’s often said that American cities have turned their back on the rivers where they grew up. That’s maybe less true now than in the past. Lawrence, for example, has embraced the Kaw. During our day on the Missouri, we watched lots of people hiking and biking along riverside trails. Boat ramps make it easy to get on the water.
And yet. As we were taking out at Riverside Park, two people asked us about the barge that puttered past. They didn’t know what it was.
Know it or not, the river is still there. Still waiting for people to learn its ways, its power, and its contributions to our history and economy. To get out on it. With respect.
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Commentator Rex Buchanan is a writer, author and outdoor enthusiast. He's also director emeritus of the Kansas Geological Survey at the University of Kansas.